1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to grinding devices and methods of use of grinding devices; and more particularly to grinding devices constructed with a plurality of abrasive members and which employ such plurality of abrasive members in grinding processes.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Some grinding devices are fabricated in the configuration of wheels or disks and employ the rim or cylindrical periphery of the wheel or disk in various grinding processes. Still other grinding devices, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,089,040 employ the planar surface of the wheel or disk in various grinding processes, in fact, a pair of spaced and facing grinding devices are employed in the grinding processes of U.S. Pat. No. 2,089,040.
There are a considerable number of configurations for the grinding surfaces of grinding devices such as generally planar with a plurality of abrasive plugs embedded in the material of the wheel so that the exposed and utilized surfaces of the plugs are co-planar with the surrounding wheel surface as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,426,486; and generally curved and with spaced abrasive areas embedded in non-abrasive areas but so as to form a continuous curved surface as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,145,888. However, such continuous surface grinding devices are subject to the accumulation of xe2x80x9cswarfxe2x80x9d (the particles of grinding device material and material from the article being ground) between the grinding device and the article being ground, and the embedding of that xe2x80x9cswarfxe2x80x9d into the surface of the grinding device. This can reduce the efficiency of the grinding process; while movement of the xe2x80x9cswarfxe2x80x9d over the surface being ground can possibly scratch the surface of the articles being ground as well as otherwise hindering the grinding thereof.
Other grinding devices are constructed with: a plurality of bulges as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,262,583; a plurality of openings as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,041,799; and/or a plurality of spaced grinding rings separated by annular channels as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,201,410. However, even such grinding wheel constructions may be inadequate to efficiently remove coolant and other fluids and xe2x80x9cswarfxe2x80x9d from between the grinding device surface and surface being ground or to remove same quick enough.
Still other grinding devices utilize plural concentric grinding rings, each of different composition but concentrically mounted and in spaced relationship, with the respective grinding surfaces co-planar as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,309,016; while other grinding devices position plural spaced rings, each with different composition grinding surfaces, in planes that are angularly disposed one with respect to the other as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,451,295; and still other grinding devices utilize plural spaced grinding rings of different composition that have their grinding surfaces in different planes as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,673,425. However, here again, the spacings, if any, between the respective grinding rigs of these grinding devices may still prove insufficient to remove grinding fluids and xe2x80x9cswarfxe2x80x9d from the surface to be ground in an acceptable manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,456,500 shows and describes a grinding device in the form of a polisher wherein a plurality of teeth are formed from the base material of the polisher by a photoresist method. The resulting teeth, however, must be formed from the material of the grinding device base thus resulting in a possibly unwanted expense of forming the entire device of abrasive material which could be significant if it is desired to use a relatively expensive superabrasive as the abrasive material. U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,017 on the other hand forms the cylindrical peripheral surface of a grinding wheel with spaced islands of abrasive (in various configurations) molded by a centrifugal process to a foamed elastomer base to provide an elastic grinding element. The resulting grinding wheel because of the elastic base would appear to have limited application. In addition, centrifugal process for manufacture of these grinding devices would not be capable of producing a grinding device with similar abrasive islands disposed on a planar surface of a grinding device disk or wheel.
Arcuate and spaced grinding segments have been secured to a grinding device disk so as to provide an annular and planar grinding surfaces therefore as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,867,063. However, the grinding device disk construction for receiving those arcuate grinding segments requires spaced channels within which the arcuate grinding segments are secured by being bolted in place. The channel construction would appear to provide spaces within which unwanted xe2x80x9cswarfxe2x80x9d and other materials might collect thus possibly detrimentally affecting wheel operation and grinding efficiency. In addition, the wheel disk that carries the arcuate segments appears to be relatively complex and costly.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,629,975 shows circular blocks of abrading material embedded in arcuate segments that alternate about the same axis to form either a rough grinding device or a finish grinding device. The respective rough and finish grinding devices are utilized alternatively and not together. The patent provides no further detail concerning the size, spacing or thickness above the segment carrier surface for the abrading material or whether any part of such abrading material, in fact, is disposed above the surface of the arcuate members within which the cylindrical blocks of abrading material are embedded. The preparation of the carriers to receive the embedded abrasive blocks requires relatively costly expense and time as well as the time and expense to imbed the blocks in their respective carriers.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide new and novel grinding devices.
It is another object of this invention to provide new and novel combinations of grinding wheels or disks and grinding abrasives.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide new and novel processes for grinding articles of manufacture.
It is still another object of this invention to provide new and novel processes for more efficiently grinding articles such as brake rotors, power steering pump rings and rotors, valve plates and the like.
It is yet still another object of this invention to provide new and novel grinding wheels or disks which optimize the amount of abrasive to be utilized for grinding while at the same time also optimizing the arrangement of such abrasives to facilitate the flow of coolant and other fluids and the removal of xe2x80x9cswarfxe2x80x9d from the grinding area.
It is a further object of this invention to provide new and novel grinding wheels or disks which carry multiple abrasive pieces each of which is of optimum thickness and each of which provides an optimum abrasive surface for grinding.
Other objects and features of the inventions in their details of construction and arrangement of parts will be seen from the above and from the following description of the preferred embodiments when considered with the drawing and from the appended claims.